Magda was bending over a pot from which an odor that had captivated the entire street was emanating.
Ever since she had arrived, most of the houses on the street had faced many difficulties in stomaching their own food, because they would always find the discrepancies in what they cooked whenever the incredible smells of her cooking wafted into their homes. Unable to handle it, many had even resorted to completely closing down their houses when they ate, but still, the moment they stepped outside… They would be struck by the full force of those odors, and that would make them salivate and wish that they were in the house from which they were coming.
With each day, it was becoming more and more serious. Even now, some unscrupulous characters had decided that the woman who had newly moved in might make a fine wife for them, both because of her wealth and her obvious skills. If they knew that she could pinch them to death, they would definitely have been terrified, but all they feared was the law which was very fair - if they were caught harassing, they would be thrown into jail, so all they could do was stand outside and wait while wearing sleeveless jackets to show off their muscles and hopefully entice the woman who was definitely not grieving because of the way she seemed to be cooking multiple times throughout the day.
Magda had also spotted this, but she had refused to give up this singular pleasure of her life even if it meant that she would draw a lot of attention. She had been asked not to do so, but she saw no problem with it - she was doing her job perfectly, so there was no reason to deprive herself of her passion. It had always been the case that anyone who brought up the fact that Heroes did not need to eat would often find themselves with a couple, or even a hundred cooking pans stuffed into their behind, so no one had really voiced that much of an objection. In fact, some had even suggested that it might add realism to her disguise, which had resulted in a lot of smirks.
She had a very distasteful expression on her face, though, because she sorely missed the advanced formations and ingredients that she had access to in her abode. Still, she was making do, but just as the dish was about to be done… One of the discrete formations she had placed around the kingdom was activated.
For a moment, she looked up with surprise, and after that, the vilest of curses started to appear from her mouth.
"You had to choose this moment to appear?! Damn you! After we get you, I'm definitely going to feed you my specialty course of torture food!"
Grumbling this, she stopped what she was doing and immediately walked out of the house.
This made the smells waft out with much more strength, blasting those waiting outside, and while they entered a heavenly place of delectable cuisine, she walked past them and made her way to the Palace.
She chose a tea stall which had a direct view of the imposing building in which the King resided, and while she sipped the tea, she kept a watch for the man who had teleported into the kingdom.
Indeed, what she had placed was a teleportation detection formation which would tell her if anyone at the level of a Champion level Fighter appeared, and because there was only one in this kingdom, it was a fool-proof way to find out when the king returned from wherever he had gone.
As for the reason behind his departure, he was often outside on work regarding the Alliance that he had made, but still, they had decided to set up shop here, as it was a place that he would always return to, even though he had seemingly created a new capital that floated in the sky.
Seeing that their suspicion had been right, a small smile did come on Magda's face, but it was mostly because of the fact that she might be able to finish this assignment soon and leave.
After a few moments, her Hero level senses managed to spot someone teleporting to the airspace above the Palace before descending. A primitive formation was present to prevent people from peeping inside, but it did nothing to stop her.
Right away, she was about to send a message, but suddenly… Her target walked out of the palace gates right in front of her.
He had a pleasant smile on his face, and for some reason, it got on Magda's nerves.
Still, she managed to maintain a neutral expression while a crowd started to gather on seeing the most iconic man in the entire continent appear, and he greeted them all graciously and even agreed to sign a lot of the autograph books that were presented to him.
Fame. This was the one thing that Heroes could not achieve no matter how much they trained, and although many didn't care about it, she did.
She had always done so- she had always wanted many, many people to taste the delicacies that she had created after decades and even centuries of research, but the sad thing was that the general public would never know of the existence of Heroes. As for those in the Big Four and the Order, there were no patrons of arts present- all they cared about was training, training, and more training, but for Magda, there was nothing more droll in life.
She decided to wait a bit to send a comprehensive report, so she got up and began to follow the man as he seemed to be on a regular tour throughout the kingdom.
She did not consider kidnapping him for even a moment, because even if she could do it with just the slightest of exertions, it would be foolish, as they would be openly betraying their intentions and drawing the ire of the Head who was very insistent on the rule that the famous figures throughout the Central Continent should not be disturbed.
Weirdly enough, soon, she saw that rather than taking a tour, he seemed to have a destination in mind.
With each step that they took, though, she got a strange feeling that something might be off, but she just couldn't place it.
It was only when they finally stepped foot on her street did she finally understand that that feeling had been because she had been retracing the steps that she had taken to get there.
For the life of her, she did not understand just what purpose the king might have in this random street in the Kingdom.
She had already checked on everyone in the street before choosing it for residence, and there was nothing special about it.
So, with a puzzled expression, she watched on, and as she did so… What happened next only made her feel even more shock, and it even resulted in her standing rooted to where she was, completely dumbfounded, which led to some people jostling her in their pursuit of going up to the king and making his acquaintance.
Being pushed by a common man finally allowed her to get back to her senses, and for the slightest of moments, she considered flattening this entire area. She was not like the other Heroes did not care about human life, but there were just some things which should not be done.
Yet, calming down and telling herself that these people did not know of her eminent identity, Magda began to think of at least one possible reason for the King coming to her own house.
Indeed, that had been the reason behind her extreme shock, and at the moment, he was standing in her courtyard while beaming and looking around with great interest.
What the hell are you doing here?!
She asked this in her mind, but she got no answer - instead, she only got more puzzled as she saw the King sniff repeatedly.
She did so too, and all she perceived was a hint of the aroma of the food she had been cooking.
Her curiosity had been roused to the fullest, and if it was not satiated, she felt as if she would burst.
Thankfully, in the next moment, the king went up to the door and knocked, and behind him, the area was swamped by the people of the Kingdom and his retinue.
There was no answer because she, of course, was on the outside, and she wondered what to do.
The decision was taken out of her hands, though, because one of the citizens pointed in her direction and said, "She's the owner of the house, my King!"
With a gulp, Magda nodded, because she had no other choice.
If she denied it, it would cause suspicion to fall on her, so she just put on that same puzzlement she was feeling on her face and walked forward, asking, "My King, yes, that is my humble abode. How can I help you, good sir? I have not been long in this kingdom, but I've heard a lot about your virtues and achievements. It is my honor to have you on my doorstep. Would you care to come in for refreshments?"
Each word had to be pushed out of Magda's mouth, and by the end of it, she felt as if she had eaten the most horrid thing in the world.
She had actually had to complement this nobody from the Central Continent!
She couldn't believe it! If the others found out, this would definitely make her the laughing stock for a generation, so she decided to keep it hidden forever.
She somehow managed to control her emotions, though, by repeatedly recalling the course of torture food that she was so proud of.
However, the king's reply made her snap out of her thoughts, and it made her wonder whether her ears were working properly.
"That is not needed, dear citizen of Lanthanor, but what I would like to do is call upon you to come to my doorstep! Indeed, you heard correctly! Recently, my subordinate has been making inquiries for someone to act as a judge for a cooking show that is being planned. You are the one who has received the most compliments! I heard that many families even moved out from the street because they could not bear taking in the aroma of the work of your heavenly hands every day without having the chance to taste it!"
"Y-yes, I'm kind of shy, so I did not-"
Everyone stared at Magda, so she stammered out a response, but the king interrupted her and said, "Well, I cannot allow such an injustice to befall my citizens any longer! I decided to come personally, because I saw this as an important matter. After all, as their king, why must I not concern myself with each and every aspect of their life? This show will be a revolution, and it will take the Network to new heights! Miss… Hildegard, was it? Will you please honor my request?"
And so, it was this strange turn of events which finally saw Magda in an underground room in the Kingdom of Lanthanor, where she was told that she would soon be interviewed by the person who was in charge of the shows of the Network of Angaria.
The king was present in the room with her, and there was nobody else.
Magda was still completely bewildered regarding everything that happened, and if she was honest, she would have admitted that she was actually… Proud, that her skills had resulted in this. Never before had she had her work and art appreciated in this way, and it had frankly felt so, so good.
Yet, at this moment, she realized that it was a perfect opportunity. She could take control of the King, and no one would be the wiser- she could simply say that he had left abruptly to do something, and after they interrogated him, they could place him back.
Just as she was about to act, though, another man appeared in the room, and seeing him, panic appeared on her face.
"Well, hello there," he said, before waving his hand and making everything go dark.